Contemporary Ceramics Studio Convention•Charleston, SC • September 8-13, 2016
We bet you didn't know that The Painted Pig was part of a trade organization for pottery studios nationwide. Actually, make that worldwide. We met folks from Nassau, Bahamas and Europe last week too, when we attended the Contemporary Ceramics Studio Association's 2016 Convention in Charleston, SC. We are all individually owned studios that get together in the fall to take classes, meet with suppliers, and hang out together for inspiration and getting the latest on industry trends. We thought it would be fun to share a little bit about our trip to show you some of the highlights of our classes and new products we found to benefit our customers.
Allie and Kristin on the way to Charleston.
We learned so much and saw so many cool things!
Classes
Cute little Board Art project, trying out a double stain 😬
Some of our favorite classes to take are technique classes. We have also enjoyed clay classes, glass fusing projects, door hanger classes, and screen printing projects. This year we also learned how to do Board Art and Life Casting. We also took some classes on Snapchat, Instagram/Instagram Stories, glass birthday parties, employees, kiln maintenance, and of course, some fun pottery classes!
Lifecasting! We can't wait to bring this to our customers.
Watercolor techniques with puff paint on bisque.
Glass Class for studio owners.
Cute ideas for fall. We now stock this shape!
Kristin made this cute Halloween dish!
New Stuff
We also love getting to see our industry suppliers and their exciting new products and samples. We get to try out new techniques on the spot, ask them questions, and it's always fun!
With our friends at Gare.
Checking out the new designs from Duncan.
With our favorite Kiln Manufacturer, Jim Skutt.
Allie making clip boards with new studio friends.
New faceted animals 😍.
This is a new Thanksgiving screen printing idea. Can't wait to get this one in the studio and makes samples!
Mayco made the coolest ceramic flowers!
Working on an ugly sweater ornament with The Crafy Chica herself!!!!
These faceted animals are really popular in our studio.
Make and takes
New Ideas
Who doesn't love fresh ideas? We saw lots of new trends, such as board painting, glitter underglaze paints (we have these!), pineapple everything, faceted shapes, pastel matte underglazes, screenprinting samples, and more! Here are some of our favorites.
Aren't these wine glasses a hoot? Mayco is so funny.
We ordered this silkscreen! Just put the foot on then the rest is screen printed on. Easy!
We loved these sweater mugs! Make your own design or paint solid.
How clever are these Punny Plates?!
New (& Old) Friends
We had so much fun at classes and meeting our industry partners, but it's also fun to talk to other studio owners and discuss studio happenings, events, parties, staff, and how to juggle family life as well. We met some great people that are new to the industry, and saw some old friends we have known for a while.
These two wacky ladies have On the Pot in Salina, KS. We love their ideas, books, and soon we will carry some of their exciting new products!
My friend Palee (middle) has a studio in Kalamazoo, MI.
Riding a horse carriage together through downtown Charleston. Where was my selfie stick?
The last night we dressed up for our Olympics-themed Gala benefitting Special Olympics. We raised over $27,000! we had a silent auction, games, and an awards ceremony.
Always snapchatting. 😬😂
We had such an amazing trip. It's always so much information at once, it takes a few days to really digest everything we learned, saw, and found. What kind of things are you interested in us offering? We are always looking for new ideas. Let us know if something pops out at you!
Have a a great weekend,
Allie